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Sunday, August 1, 2010

Sometimes the Best Move is No Move

Sorry for the lack of coverage here leading up to yesterday's Trade Deadline, but I made the trek down to Toronto yesterday.

There I was sitting in my seat in section 206 frantically checking Twitter and MLBTradeRumors.com throughout the game, only to find that none of the Blue Jays had been traded.

I was elated that Jose Bautista wasn't traded, but at the same time I was a little skeptic since we had all prepared ourselves to see Scott Downs, Jason Frasor, John Buck and Kevin Gregg clean their lockers in the Blue Jays clubhouse.

As a General Manager, I'm sure it's very easy to feel obligated to trade players when the 4pm trade deadline comes barreling down at you. Yet Alex Anthopoulos kept his cool and didn't waver when he didn't receive the offers he was hoping for.

10 comments:

Alison, yes I was also very relieved to see Jose Bautista still in a Blue Jays uniform. I think he really deserves to play this season out with Toronto and can't wait to see what his totals look like at the end of the year.

From the Braves perspective, I can understand why they're aggressive at the trade deadline. They can't just sit on their hands and hope the Phillies don't catch up. Loading up on players for a pennant run is something teams like that all do (especially this year with the Yankees), even though it could hurt them in the long run depending on how many prospects they parted with.

It's true... but the trades we (er... the Braves) made weren't particularly aggressive nor were they necessarily upgrades in power (which is what we needed). Luckily, we didn't really part with our top pitching prospects, I suppose. I just glad that at least the Jays (my other loves) remained pretty much intact.

Good to hear they didn't give up the farm for a couple of guys who might not even be re-signed for next year. Me personally, I'm still trying to wrap my head around why the heck the Yankees got Kerry Wood. That was definitely the WTF trade of the day.

It's because the Yankees are slowly trying to sign every available MLB player, and they've probably got Bud Selig to agree to waive the rules for them so that eventually every player will be a Yankee and they'll just win every World Series by default.

Sadp, it certainly seems like it! I mean, what other team in their right mind would go after Kerry Wood? Now he's going to be the highest paid setup man in baseball (if he even becomes their setup man).

I actually think it's a mistake that the Jays held on to all of their relievers. I don't think guys like Frasor and Gregg are going to get Type A arbitration, and if they have a couple bad months to end the season, they might not get Type B either.

Steve, I'm with you on that one ... but I don't think the Jays should've traded them just for the sake of trading them. I'm sure AA fielded some offers, and ultimately other teams couldn't match the asking price.

Worse comes to worst, the Jays get a couple of draft picks if Downs walks, and hopefully Gregg/Frasor/Buck can hang onto Type B status and the Jays can get the picks if they walk as well.

Mattt, I wouldn't be surprised to see guys like Overbay and Gregg clear waivers and get traded. But now that Wallace is gone, maybe they do in fact keep Lyle around the rest of the year - it's difficult to say.

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About the Blue Jay Hunter

The Blue Jay Hunter is a blog about the Toronto Blue Jays, which takes a look at the team under the microscope. Mixed in with just a hint of humour, and a shred of dignity. I also have an affinity for baseball moustaches.